Errez Design Studio Creates A Fitting Place to Live
A Home Designed to Fit Its Occupants, and Its City
When Errez Design Studio got the commission to re-design the interior of a home on Catalonia Avenue, they approached it as they usually do, from a “biographical design” perspective. “When we design [a home interior], we identify the soul of the people who are going to live there and try to incorporate the things that bring that life,” says Ruben Guiterrez who, along with wife Katie, founded Errez Design in 2009. What that means is that rather than asking what sorts of design the clients like, they ask couples questions like: Where did you meet? What kinds of food do you like? Where do you like to travel? “This couple love entertaining and wanted large family spaces,” says Ruben. “They also loved the Coral Gables Mediterranean look, and modern style as well.”
The outcome was a home fashioned to accommodate the biographical profile of a Coral Gables family of six that wanted a home which felt historical yet spacious, laced with modern elements. The home itself was being renovated and expanded with a new addition, which gave the Guiterrez team additional flexibility to mold the spaces inside. The results appear here.
Formal Living Room
“The living room was just the size of the vaulted ceiling; the old Coral Gables scale is a little tight,” explains Guiterrez. “So, we expanded it”— to the area beneath the flat ceiling to the right. They also replaced all the windows and doors with high impact glass framed by high impact vinyl, which does not expand, change color, or require maintenance. The furniture here and throughout the home was already owned by the family.
Family Room
In order to the expand the home’s sense of space, Errez Design had the architects mimic the vaulted ceiling of the formal living room, only with greater height. They also kept this area open and connected to the kitchen, which also connects to the dining area. The modern chandelier overhead is from Circle Lighting in the Design District. Here, and throughout the house, the floors were newly engineered from European white oak.
Kitchen
“The details of the kitchen are not standard” says Guiterrez. “The upper cabinets are tall and the [island] legs are chunky, with a three-inch marble slab. This was a large room, so this kept it in proportion.” The cabinets and island were designed by Errez using lacquered fiberboard so the surfaces would never warp. “The dark cabinets anchored the space, and contrasted with the walls, the ceiling, the floor and the airy feeling,” says Guiterrez. The chairs are aluminum framed with oak seats, the appliances Wolf and Sub Zero.
Dining Area
The dining area, adjacent to the open kitchen, has an inlaid floor of hand-made tiles from Nicaragua (available through Granada Tile) “to give a Coral Gables flavor to the space,” says Guiterrez. The overhead chandelier from Circle Lighting is brass with glass beads and the vinyl framed glass doors can be opened on two sides.
Bathroom
The bathroom was designed as a “wet room concept” says Guiterrez, meaning the shower and bath are placed inside a glassed in space, on a tile platform that drains. The Kohler tub is copper with brass fixtures, with navy blue tiles on the walls and a porcelain mosaic tile floor. The cabinetry, like the kitchen, was designed by Errez using black lacquered fiberboard so that the surfaces would not warp.